Kukla's Korner Hockey

It wasn't a return to his roots exactly, because Brendan Shanahan's National Hockey League roots were planted over in Jersey, about 20 minutes by tunnel or bridge from the bright lights of the big city — traffic permitting, of course.
But even as he grew and matured as a player, at a time when the Devils' organization was still closer to its ‘Mickey Mouse' origins than its championship years, Shanahan always loved Manhattan: The passion exhibited for the Rangers, even out in the Jersey swamps; the emerging rivalry; the lure of their history.